


Blood And Pine Needles

by akamine_chan



Category: due South
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-24
Updated: 2009-05-24
Packaged: 2017-10-02 12:22:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akamine_chan/pseuds/akamine_chan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He looked as beautiful as he did the day she'd left Chicago, watching him fall to the platform, hand outstretched.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blood And Pine Needles

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: character death, suicide
> 
> Unbeta'd. Might suck. This was supposed to be for the challenge over at ds_snippets, but it grew a little more than I planned. Heavily influenced by Spuffyduds' Hard Core Logo ficlet [Destination](http://spuffyduds.livejournal.com/174421.html). Also brought about by Plotbunniofdoom's request at ds_recfinder about fics where Vecchio missed or didn't shoot Fraser and Fraser took off with Victoria. This is _not_ one of those fics, by the way. There are no right answers with this one. Interpretations will vary among readers...*g*
> 
> Prompts: leaf, needle

She ran, recklessly fast, her arms up to protect her face from the stinging lash of branches as she pushed through the trees. For a moment she lost her footing, tripping over a root, but her forward momentum carried her through several stumbling steps before she managed to regain her balance. Faster. She dug her booted feet into the loamy ground for purchase, slipping a little on the leaf litter, trying for more speed.

She looked behind her, but the heavy, early morning fog both aided and hindered. She couldn't see anything but pine trees. But she could hear, and the eerie baying of the dogs sent a shiver down her spine. Faster, she had to go faster, and the fear pumped more adrenaline into her blood.

Faster, faster, she _would not_ go back to prison, _could not_; it would kill her this time. _No_. She would kill herself rather than be locked up in a cage again. She gasped for air, bending over against the sharp stabbing pain in her side, and _ran_.

Dodging a thick branch, she cried out as she tripped again, feeling the wrench of her ankle as it twisted and pulled in the wrong directions, the muscle and bone giving under the weight of physics. She landed heavily on her side, breathless, crying silently as she forced herself to her knees and tried to keep going.

She got to her feet only by leaning heavily against a tree; her ankle wouldn't support her weight. The pain was blinding and she paused, blinking repeatedly, waiting for the haze to fade.

Standing a few feet away, tall and proud in his scarlet uniform, was Ben. Ben, her love, her life, her betrayer. She had never expected to see him again.

"Hello, Victoria."

He looked as beautiful as he did the day she'd left Chicago, watching him fall to the platform, hand outstretched.

She snarled at him and pulled her knife from her boot, laying it against her wrist. "I won't go back, Ben! Do you hear me? I won't go back to a cage, to rot and die—" She pressed hard, and the knife slid through her flesh easily. She'd always kept it razor sharp, just in case.

Blood welled, pooled and ran in rivulets, and she grinned savagely at him. "I won't go back."

He looked at her steadily. "All right, Victoria."

She tried to switch the knife to her other hand, but her fingers wouldn't work, wouldn't grasp and hold. She must have nicked a tendon. She let the knife fall and she slid down the rough bark of the tree, feeling shaky and faint.

The sound of the dogs was louder, and she could hear the shouts of the search team; a combination of U.S. Marshals and the RCMP, plus whatever other local law enforcement they'd managed to round up. They were out for blood, _her blood_. They'd get it, soon enough.

She laughed then, hearing a note of hysteria in her voice. "All I wanted was for you to love me. Why couldn't you love me?"

He walked closer, silently. The forest seemed to hold its breath. "I do love you, Victoria." He crouched down and touched her wrist, his fingers icy cold. He pressed hard against the wound, making her cry out and struggle against his touch. She watched in terror as he brought his blood-stained fingers to his lips and licked them clean. He leaned forward and kissed her, softly. She could taste the blood, warm still, on his lips.

Standing up, he looked down at her with guileless blue eyes. "It's time to go, Victoria."

He turned and walked away, leaving her behind, but all she could see was the bullet hole that pierced his tunic and his spine, and the blood that bloomed on his back like a malevolent flower.

-fin-


End file.
